From: oded@ai.mit.edu (Oded Maron)
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 15:08:49 -0400
To: all-ai
Subject: GSB, Friday 10/27, 5:30


The other day, I was reading about Tycho Brahe.  For those who don't
know, he was an astronomer in the 16th century who developed a system
where the planets (except earth) rotated around the sun, and the sun
rotated around the earth.  He came from a family of Danish warriors,
and despite the fact that his parents wanted him to be a warrior, he
went to study mathematics and travel around Europe.

During this time, he got in an argument with someone over a theorem.
Apparently young Tycho thought that his honor was at stake, and felt
his warrior blood rush to his head.  He challenged his opponent to a
duel, but since he was not a warrior but just a nerd, he lost his nose
(literally).  Fortunately, it was a clean cut, and he got a couple of
prosthetic noses - a bronze one for everyday use and a gold one for
special occasions.  

Now, I was thinking what our life would be like if all of us believed
this much in our theorems and theories.  Would we have gunfights in
the infinite corridor over the simulation/real-world debate?  Fencing
in the playroom between C and Lisp proponents?  Boxing in the reading
room between the symbolic AI people and the neural net community?

If only we believed enough in our ideas, we could resolve our
differences much more quickly.  If you don't agree with me, meet me in
the 7th floor playroom at 5:30 and I will bust open your head with a
bottle of premium beer.

No, no, no.  Join us while we calmly discuss the implications of this
theory, and maybe I'll tell you what Tycho did to someone who
plagiarized him.


                    G I R L   S C O U T   B E N E F I T

Today at 5:30 in the 7th floor playroom.